i have a ingrsol rand 9115 hvlp gravity fed with 1.4 tip, fed by a ingersol rand,two stage 11.5 hp80gal,175psi,max compressor,the hose is 50ft,what would i set the wall mounted regulator at to achieve the 10psi at the cap recommendation???

Set you're wall regulator at 100psi, use the largest air fittings you can find 3/8"i.d. from DeVilbiss work well. The 1/4" fittings starve hvlp guns. Run a regulator on the gun and adjust the pressure to where it sprays good. If your gun came with the regulator to set the pressure at the air cap, use it to get close and adjust it according to how you want to spray. Sometimes you will find that throwing that informationout the window will be the way to go!
I set my DeVilbiss GTi guns at 10psi at the cap when I first got them and they didn't perform as well as expected, but better than any other HVLP gun I had tried. I soon learned to adjust the air pressure accordingly and got excellent results. The GTi guns say not to exceed 30psi input, but 6 years of using them everyday, spraying around 35psi for base and 38-40 for clear hasn't blown them up, so I guess you can exceed it!!!!!!!!
I personally don't understand why so many guys want these HVLP guns. I prefer my old conventional gravity feed Sata jet 90. I learned to adapt to the HVLP guns, but it was a tough task. I guess if that's what you start with, then maybe it's easier, but being used to conventional guns makes it a tough change for most painters.

I have been wondering about something here. I personally love my old conventional gun. I feel like I could shoot a bug out of the air with it at times. Anyway, I have just bought a HVLP still in the box, and I have been thinking of returning it. The only reason I bought it was because I have read so many people here that say urethanes spray best with the HVLP. I have sprayed DBU deltron and enamels with that old gun, but not the urethane I have now. Outside of loss of product, what would be the difference? Is control and comfort more important than the tool?

Ron,
HVLP's take a while to get use to and I'm not so sure its the best way to go for a novice painter.
Also like Randy said air supply is key, if you try and adjust your air at the wall say 40lbs to get 30 at the gun it will not break up the paint as well as if you had 150 at the wall and adjusted to 30 at the gun due to the SCFM.
I have always told painters that were going to buy one is use it for cutting in parts and than go to a bumper before you attempt an allover job with it.

Advantages are they do save a little material, and they seem to do a better job of blending the tough color bases. The primer gun I use I can tune it to a point that I can 2" tape the next panel and prime the adjacent panel but I paid some bucks for that primer gun to do that.

I have used them so many years now I have a hard time spaying a high pressure gun anymore.
Its all what your use too.

Hey Guys,
Here's the cold, hard facts!!
How smart is your paint???
Does it KNOW what it's being sprayed through???
Think about it!!!!!!!!!
Who do you think started claiming that the paint would do better being sprayed by a different type of gun?????
Is it possible that the spray gun manufacturers sales were dropping off, so they had to come up with a new way to sell equipment??
If I was practiced up with my old "fire hose" Binks 7, I guarantee I could put on just as nice a job with it as I can with an HVLP, and perhaps even better!
Anyone who tells you you HAVE to use HVLP equipment to spray urethane, or any other type paint is an absolute friggin' moron!!
Ya gotta think for yourself!!!

Now, I probably don't paint as much as most of you guys, but I just got an HVLP because my old gun needed replacing.
I swear it uses *a-lot* less paint. Maybe I'm just sold on the HVLP thing, but it sure seems like I used whole lot less paint and primer than I used to
Seems like the last time I bought epoxy primer I ended up spending about $100 bucks for the gallon (maybe that included the activator stuff?)... If I can make my $ go further then it's cool with me. Of course you've got to use it enough to make up for the increased cost of an HVLP.
-alfie

HVLP stands for High Volume Low Pressure. Transfer efficiency (what sticks to surface) is much greater with an HVLP gun, because of the lower pressure. High pressure guns, obviously work at a much higher pressure, thus smaller droplets of paint, makes smoother finishes easier. I am not saying you can't get a smooth finish with an HVLP, it just takes a little more finesse.
Also remember each air hose fitting reduces final pressure, along with length of hose. Most companies say 5psi per fitting, and 5psi per 50 ft of 3/8" hose. Best to have regulator at gun, if you are trying to set to specific psi. Most painters, including myself, just play it by ear, and feel.
Not trying to be Mr. technical, just trying to provide insight.
It's what I know.

All of thinks makes sense of why I paint better with my old gun. I have used it enough that I just seem to know how to set it by the looks of the fan and the pull of the trigger. I start by setting pressure to spec, then I do a couple of test shots on something handy. I just seem to know when it looks right, and guess what, I don't seem to get runs and the overlap and coverage seems to be consistent and easy to accomplish.
The only complaint I have about this gun is that I get a sore shoulder after an afternoon of painting. Being 5'7" makes a guy reach more than I care over wet paint.

Try being 6'5" and working on the inside of a Beetle! There's places for all of us.
The old conventional guns will atomize paint better and that's the problem. Not enough of those tiny drops make it to the surface you are painting.
HVLP was pushed by the government to reduce the nasty stuff that gets put in the air and it does that. Kind of an accidental benefit was the much better % of transfer. I fired up an old detail gun the other day for a small job (about 3" square) and I was amazed at how much paint I put into the air. With the cost of refinish materials, using HVLP makes good, hard economic sense as well as helping out the atmosphere a bit

Originally posted by Randy Ferguson Hey Guys,
Here's the cold, hard facts!!
How smart is your paint???
Does it KNOW what it's being sprayed through???
Think about it!!!!!!!!!
Who do you think started claiming that the paint would do better being sprayed by a different type of gun?????
Is it possible that the spray gun manufacturers sales were dropping off, so they had to come up with a new way to sell equipment??
If I was practiced up with my old "fire hose" Binks 7, I guarantee I could put on just as nice a job with it as I can with an HVLP, and perhaps even better!
Anyone who tells you you HAVE to use HVLP equipment to spray urethane, or any other type paint is an absolute friggin' moron!!
Ya gotta think for yourself!!!

Randy Ferguson

Randy, the manufactures DID NOT want to make HVLP guns, BELIEVE ME! They lost their butts on the first ones. They HAD TO BY LAW make them for the first VOC regulated areas (mostly in California, but a few counties elsewhere). The rest of the country got these guns when they finally had a friggin clue on how to make them! The first ones were ABSOLUTE JUNK they cost $400.00 or so dollars when a JGA502 was $150.00, no the paint gun companies did not "create a market" they were FORCED to fill the market created by the US Governments "Clear air act" of 1990.

I wish I could possibly convey the HELL we went thru with HVLP guns, low VOC products, you have no idea! And I am glad you don't, it really sucked! It took five to ten years to really get some decent products that worked. You can not believe the 2.1 VOC clears that were used in the LA area. Oh my GOD it was like friggin honey! It went on like UNDERSEAL. Just think about this, get the clear you use and pour it into a gun with no reducer. Then set up your gun with about half the air pressure it should have. That would give you an idea of what we dealt with.

You are dead right, you don't "need" an HVLP. There are some very good reasons to use on in the home hobbiest garage though. First, way less overspray. That means less overspray to fall on the wet paint to kill it because of the poor air movment in the home made "booth". Less overspray to damage YOU. Some HVLP guns like my favorite the Sharpe Platinum are super "lazy" guns that a beginer can take their time with and watch the color go on (they are the best blend gun ever in my opinion).

Some of them really do use a LOT less paint. So there are some reasons. But you are right, they market them now as if you have to have them and that just isn't true in 99% of the country. When I was repping though, I put them in MANY shops that didn't have to have them buy law and they loved painting those fleets of trucks and trailers, stuff like that. They saved BIG bucks on paint materials.

I still think the Devilbiss JGA502 is sexier than Britney Spears.

Handyman Randy is also right on the money with the pressure settings. I have an air cap with gauge for testing the "at the cap" pressure and few times have I found that the "Max inlet pressure" on the gun will get you the 10 lbs (EVER so important at the cap. In fact, while at a clinic with the real "Dr. Gun" Hub Forsgren from Sharpe (now retired) he told us to set the Platinum which says 50bs max inlet to 55 minimum. Sure enough, I checked the Platinum and 50 lbs gave you about 8 at the cap.

By the way, the 10 lbs at the cap is for LEGAL reasons only. It hasn't one damn thing to do with making the gun atomize. So if you were to bump it up and ended up with 11 lbs at the cap, if it works right, that is all that should matter in your garage.

Cut the length of hose down, don't add a bunch of water traps and filters. Those are all VOLUME traps.

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